Record 27 Cars on Full Season Japan Cup Entry

SRO Motorsports Group has released a record, 27-car full season entry list for the Japan Cup leg of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS season.

The field is divided into three separate categories, with a headlining pack of 17 GT3 cars joined by five Porsche Cup cars in the GTC class and five further entries in GT4.

In the GT3 category, Ferrari is the most popular brand with nine cars entered, with only Porsche matching that number throughout the entire grid also taking its presence in the lower classes into account.

Eight 296 GT3s are joined by a single 488 GT3 Evo 2020, entered for Car Guy Racing pairing Takashi Toyoda and Kazuki Ota in the Am class.

Daisuke Yamawaki and Shinichi Takagi return to defend their Pro-Am drivers’ title aboard the No. 66 K-Tunes Racing Ferrari, having taken four overall victories last year.

Reigning Am champion Tadao Uematsu has made the switch to Ferrari and shares the No. 1 Team Macchina car with Hirokazu Suzuki, having driven a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo solo last year.

Toyota SUPER GT racer Ukyo Sasahara joins Shinji Takei in the No. 9 Bingo Racing with LM Corsa Ferrari, while former FIA World Endurance Championship racer Kei Cozzolino partners up with Yorikatsu Tsujiko at PONOS Racing.

Notably, Naoki Yokomizo, who drove alongside Tsujiko and Cozzolino in a Kessel Racing-entered Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023, has been listed aboard the No. 555 Maezawa Racing Ferrari.

Yokomizo will share driving duties with billionaire entrepreneur, art collector and space tourist Yusaku Maezawa, who steps up to a full season effort after a cameo appearance at last year’s Japan Cup finale at Okayama.

Mercedes-AMG is represented by a pair of cars, including from the revived Max Racing stable, while a total of four Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3s als0 features on the full season grid.

In addition to its championship-defending Ferrari, K-Tunes also enters the sole Lexus RC F GT3 in the field, headlined by SUPER GT and Super Formula racer Nirei Fukuzumi.

Seven x Seven Racing fields the only Porsche 911 GT3 R in the championship, driven by ‘Bankcy’ and two-time SUPER GT GT300 champion Kiyoto Fujinami.

The GT4 category, meanwhile, entirely consists of Porsche and Toyota machinery, with three Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS examples joined by a pair of Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

SRO has stated that out of the 27 registered full-time entries, 18 are set to contest the opening round Sportsland Sugo, which will be held on June 13-15.

This number is also an increase compared to last year’s season-high number of 17 contested the Okayama finale.

The “majority” of the full season entry is set to compete at round two at Fuji on July 11-13, while additional entries are expected for the two final rounds at Okayama and Suzuka.

Both the Fuji and Okayaka rounds fall under the support bill of the full GTWC Asia championship, while the season finale comes as part of the Suzuka 1000km weekend, which will be timetabled as such to allow teams to also contest the Intercontinental GT Challenge round if they so wish.